Bataan Day poster, 1942 and 1958 (English poster distributed in Manila)
A two-part Bataan Day poster. Under '1942', a photograph of a 1952 historical marker for the Filipino and American dead; under '1958', a photograph of a rocket on its launch pad captioned as a U.S. missile programme 'to strengthen world peace and security'. The tell is transfer: the moral weight of the wartime dead is attached to a present-day weapons programme, linked by the line 'eternal vigilance is the price of liberty'.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- April 2, 1958
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, Inc.; U.S. Information Agency, Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East series
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Eisenhower Administration
- Leader
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Commemorate
- Themes
- War and the military, Science and technology
- Event
- Cold War
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 306, Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, 1958. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 6948936, 306-PPB-86).
Text on the object
BATAAN DAY APRIL 9th [plaque:] PHILIPPINES HISTORICAL COMMITTEE 1952 BATAAN THE FALL OF BATAAN SEALED IN BLOOD THE PERMANENT TIES OF FRIENDSHIP AND COOPERATION BETWEEN THE PHILIPPINES AND THE UNITED STATES. THIS MARKER IS DEDICATED, 9 APRIL 1952, TO THE MEMORY OF THE GALLANT FILIPINO AND AMERICAN SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT AND DIED SIDE BY SIDE IN THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY. 1942 Filipino and American soldiers died so that we may live in peace. BATAAN HAS FALLEN, BUT THE SPIRIT THAT MADE IT STAND --A BEACON TO ALL THE WORLD-- CANNOT FALL. 1958 ETERNAL VIGILANCE IS THE PRICE OF LIBERTY. U.S. launches missile program to strengthen world peace and security. DEFENDERS OF BATAAN AND CORREGIDOR, INC.
Plaque text is read from a photograph; line breaks and hyphenation normalised.
